Hi Liz
All the bees in a swarm need to learn where the entrance is. They do this by
flying up and down in front of the entrance, facing the hive. It can indeed
look like robbing, but is not. Gradually the bees move backwards away from the
hive and fly in loops as they memorise the immediate surrounds. Some may check
out the rear of the hive.
As to dead bees, swarming is a tense time for bees and some expire, anything up
to a dozen or a score is normal.
Wax: swarming bees can literally be bursting with wax. It ends up everywhere.
Gareth
On 3 Jul 2021, at 10:05, Barbara Elizabeth Robinson <liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Morning.
This morning there is wax debris on the landing board and a quick check in
the hive showed the bees tightly clustered and more wax on the hive floor.
The cast was only hived on Wednesday evening.
Is this linked to robbing?
There was just one dead bee on the landing board.
Very little activity noted but bees buzzing round outside noisily.
I have reduced the entrance to 1 bee width until I can work out what is going
on.
I had left the entrance open, checked them at 10 pm last night and all was
well, so this has happened this morning.
Words of wisdom appreciated.
Liz.
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